The present invention relates to automatic welding equipment of the type including:
a fixed support base, PA1 a motor-driven articulated arm which is rotatable on the support base about a horizontal axis, a first end of the arm carrying a welding gun and a second end of the arm having a counterweight which is on the opposite side of the axis of rotation of the arm from the first end, and PA1 a device for supplying welding wire to the welding zone, including a structure for rotatably supporting a reel of welding wire, a drive unit for entraining the wire, and guide means for guiding the wire from the drive unit to the welding zone.
In known equipment of the type defined above, the reel of welding wire is disposed on a support which is fixed to the ground or to the equipment itself near its support base. Of the two solutions currently in use, the first (with the reel on the ground near the equipment) involves bulky equipment and does not make the best use of the working area in which the equipment is installed. The second solution (with the reel mounted on the equipment near its base structure) imposes limitations on the movements of the articulated arm and requires the structure and the drive means of the equipment to be of a size such that they can support the greater load due to the presence of the reel.